“China eats weird animals disease”

I ended my last column on COVID contradictions from our political and medical authorities with a reference to last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests, one of which was ornamented by an appearance (mask on, knee bent) by our own prime minister. These protests were declared medically welcome, if not necessary, in a time of COVID. That opinion was trumpeted in a major media statement by 1,200 “medical authorities.”  This was during the same period when eight or nine people clustered at a park picnic table to munch on chicken wings was understood as likely to spark the advent of Black Death 2.0.

We’re not learning to live with the virus, we’re learning to live with authoritarianism.

Back in the summer, as the rest of the world was opening up, state after state in Australia started to impose new restrictions to deal with a handful of Covid cases. It turned us into a global laughing stock. No one is laughing now.

… And on Wednesday, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 113 made an abrupt about-face to their previous decree that members not disclose their vaccination status to management — with local president Carlos Santos issuing a statement urging members to now comply with the TTC’s Sept. 30 disclosure deadline.

According to data released on Wednesday, the risk of the development of the heart condition is 1 in 5,000 for males aged 18 to 24 following a second dose of Moderna. This was based on more than 96,000 second doses between June 1 and August 7, 2021. For women between 18 to 24, the risk is 1 in 17,000.

In comparison, health officials said the risk was 1 in 28,000 after the second dose of Pfizer.

Ontario reports 495 new COVID-19 cases, eight more deaths

Ontario reported fewer than 500 new COVID-19 cases for a second day in a row and eight more deaths on Wednesday.

Provincial health officials logged 495 new infections today, up slightly from 466 on Tuesday and 463 a week ago.

RCMP union says it supports a Mountie’s ‘right’ to refuse vaccination

The RCMP’s union says it supports the “right” of RCMP officers to refuse to get vaccinated and will back up any member who refuses vaccination once the mandatory vaccination policy for the federal public service is in place.

“The [National Police Federation] supports a member’s right to choose to be vaccinated or not,” says a Sept. 23 email to members, obtained by CBC News.

“We will assist and represent members individually with their choice and its possible employment consequences.”

Elsewhere on the Labour front… TTC claims employee vaccines disclosure refusal an illegal strike

Deadlines loom for hundreds of unvaccinated hospital workers if they want to keep their jobs

And…

‘Vaxxed or not vaxxed you are all welcome’: Hundreds of Ontario businesses defy vaccine passport rules

“Before the pandemic,”wrote Nate Silver the US political analyst, “I would have guessed that conservatives were COVID hawks and liberals were COVID doves.” It is an intriguing thought: perhaps, if a few key figures had made different decisions, the political argument of the past 18 months could have flipped entirely between Left and Right?

More than 17,000 health-care workers in Quebec will be suspended next month for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, and now provincial officials are scrambling to fill in the gaps.

A spokesperson for Health Minister Christian Dubé told CBC on Monday that a total of 17,642 employees within Quebec’s health-care network still haven’t had their first dose.

Nearly half of those unvaccinated employees are front-line workers who are in direct contact with patients, the spokesperson said.